Portable explosion turbine plant without atmospheric recooling



March 1934. H HHOLZWA'RTH 1,951,359

roRT'ABiE EXPLOSION TURBINE PLANT WITHOUT ATMOSPHERIC REcooLING Filed Jan. '36', '1931 .2 sheets-sheet 1.

Fi.g.2

March 20, 1934 H, HQLZWARTH 1,951,359

PORTAYBLE EXPLOSION TURBNE PLANT WITHOUT ATMOSPHERIC RECOOLING I Filed Jan. so, 1931 2 sheets-sheet 2 `Patented Mar. 2G,V 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT oFl-lcE PORTABLE EXPLOSION TURBINE PLANT WITHOUT ATMOSPHERIC RECOOLING Application January 30, 1931, Serial No. 512,340 In Germany February 5, 1930 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to portable power plants, particularly for locomotives, and has for its object to provide a novel mode of operation for vehicles, traction engines, etc., without recooling with atmospheric air and also an improved l apparatus for propelling the same.

In the operation o1 vehicles by means oi combustion engines considerable diiculty has been encountered in conducting away the heat absorbed from the walls or the apparatus and from the operating media by the cooling agent. If it is attempted to overcome this difficulty by recooling there arises not only the disadvantage that the heat discharged into the atmosphere causes a very considerable loss of the energy of the fuel, but also rather large cooling devices and the'expenditure of considerable energy for operating the same are made necessary. 'I'hus with Diesel locomotives special cooling tenders must be carried along in which the cooling water of the explosion engine is recooled. The power required to move the cooling tender and to drive the ventilator mounted on such tender is very considerhicles oi overcoming the loss of cooling water by refilling with fresh water;moreover, the method of cooling at boiling temperature is just as unecenomical as the method of recooling in which the heat absorbed by the cooling agent is lost to the atmosphere.

The present invention has for its object to.

overcome the diiiiculties associated with known processes employing recooling and aims to provide an improved .operation of vehicles driven byexplosion gas turbines with the elimination of recooling by the atmosphere. In accordance with the present invention, the operation of portable power plants which consist of one or more explosion turbines which drive the air compressor and of expansion machines which deliver the available output for driving the vehicle, is Vcarried out without atmospheric recooling by generating working steam with the heat conducted away by the cooling agent employed toreduce the temperature of the apparatus or of the opersting medium, or of both, and conducting such steam Vinto one or more expansion machines whose power output is utilized to drive the vehicle. This novel and improved process offers rst of all the advantage that the recooler and all of the disadvantageous features associated w therewith are eliminated. A further important advantage arises from the fact that the exhaust gases of the explosion turbine, which are still under pressure and are utilized in the expansion machines, and likewise the working steam generated in accordance with the present invention, are working media which can be stored up and which thus can be brought into action, in the exl pansion machines which drive the vehicle, at full entry pressure with the development of the 7o necessary maximum capacity for starting the vehicle. It is of advantage to construct these expansion machines in the form of turbines. The. parts of the apparatus which are to be given special attention so far as cooling is concerned are 7 the explosion gas turbines and the compressor or compressors. Working steam is generated with the heat abstracted by the cooling agent of the explosion turbine itself, which includes the constant volume explosion chambers, such steam being conducted into the expansion machines, particularly into steam turbines, which develop the power for driving the vehicle. Because of the lower temperature level prevailing at the compressors, I prefer to preheat feed water with the heat abstracted from such compressors; Vthis heated water is then converted into steam with the heat abstracted from the explosion turbine, the steam so produced, as stated, being then fed to the expansion machines which develop the available power output for driving the vehicle.

Of the operating media from which excess heat must be removed, the air delivered by the compressors is particularly to be considered; also the temperature of the gases exhausting from the explosion turbine is preferably reduced before such gases are charged into expansion machines.. In a further development of the invention, preheating of the feed water-may be accomplished with the Aheat abstracted from the compressed me charging air, and the so preheated water can be v converted into steam with the heat abstracted from the explosion turbine in the cooling thereof, such steam being employed'in expansionv machines for generating the power necessary tc 195 drive the vehicle. It is of advantage to superhcat the steam produced in this manner with the heat removed from the exhaust gases of the explosion turbine, so that the temperature of such gases is reduced to a harmless degree before they act upon le Vhighest possible eiilciency; .blower may therefore be dispensed with without the expansion machine, such as a continuous current turbine. Finally, the feed water can be preheated also with the available heat of the exhaust gases of lower turbine stages, whereupon there follows the evaporation of the heated water by means of the heat removed from the explosion turbine for cooling purposes, and the introduction of the so produced, and-if desired superheated, steam as working steam into the expansion engines. The feed water which is preheated with the excess. or waste heat of the exhaust gases of the lower turbine stages can be further preheated with the excess heat of the compressed charging air of the compressor, after which the generation of the steam follows, such steam then being utilized in the steam section of the expansion machines which operate the vehicle.

It has` already been proposed, in vehicles driven by piston engines, to utilize the heat in the cooling water and in the exhaust gases for generating steam and to feed such steam into steam engines which develop power for driving the vehicle. Such proposals involved, however, the rigid coupling of the combustion engine with the driving gear of the vehicle, as with the driving gear of a locomotive, so that such. combustion engine acted as a prime mover for developing power for driving the vehicle. Such arrangements were not practicable because of the entirely insufficient torque of the combustion engine available upon starting the vehicle without the aid of special, troublesome means, such as an auxiliary boiler with additional flrlng or the like, and starting and switch y couplings. In accordance with the present invention, however, the explosion turbineitis employed to operate only the compressor and does not directly generatel power for operating the.

vehicle; in this way I overcome the serious disadvantages of known apparatus in a very simple .mannen The advantages of my improved portable explosion turbine power plant from the standpoint of compactness, simplicity and eiliciency will be evident at once on comparison with portable steam turbine plants, such as steam turbine locomotives. In the latter type of plant, it is essential for satisfactory efficiency that a condenser be used and therewith a blower for cooling the exhaust steam to condensation. To enect the' necessary cooling this condenser must be of enormous size, and in the steam turbine locomotives that have been built this condenser is 'oi' far larger size, and requires a correspondingly larger space, than the steam turbine itself. In applicants plant, on the other hand, the steam is in the nature of a by-product, and it is not of the.

utmost importance that it be utilized at the a condenser and critically affecting the over-all efficiency of the entire plant. The present invention thus makes it possible not `only to cool the` chambers andv other parts of an explosion turbine in an economical manner by converting the heat of the cooling agent into useful form (steam) instead. of dissipating it into the atmosphere, but to operate in a highly elllcienct manner a portable power plant,

includingl cooled explosion chambers and utilizing steam, without the aid of an air-cooled radiator or condenser.

In the accompanying drawings is shown by way of example an embodiment of the present invention in the form of a power plant for locomotives. In said awings, j

Fig. 1 a schematic view representing a longitudinal section through a locomotive having my invention embodied therein;

Fig. 2 is a partial plan view showing the `arrangement of certain parts of the apparatus; and

' bers of which {four of such chambers being shown in Fig. 3), are periodically introduced the 'air and fuel through the valves 2 and injectors 36 controlled in any suitable way, as by means of a hydraulic distributor disclosed in my United States Patent No. 877,194. VAs soon as an explosive mixture is formed in a chamber, it is ignited by means of a spark plug 37 or other suitable means. The exhaust valve 4 is then opened and the hot explosion gases are discharged in puffs into a nozzle 38 in which they are partially expanded and which directs them upon a Curtis wheel 5 provided with two rings of blades 39. This wheel 5 is coupled through a drive 6 with a compressor '7 which serves to compress the charging air for the chambers of thev explosion turbine. The air enters the compressor through a conduit 8 and is discharged through a conduit 9 in compressed condition and is then conducted to the inlet manifold 40 and the valves`2 of the chambers of the'explosion turbine.

conducted by a conduit 12 into a combustion gas turbine 13 operatedby a continuous stream of gas. The gases areexpanded in such last mentioned turbine to final exhaust pressure and are then conveyed into a second heat exchanger 14, after which they are discharged into the atmosphere through conduit l5.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided the following mode of operation,'with out atmospheric recooling, for portable power plants such as those lof the type above described.

All of the explosion turbine parts to be'cooled, such as the explosion chambers, exhaust valves, nozzles, and turbine housing, are surrounded with a film of cooling oil to which the heat to be conducted away for cooling purposes is transmitted. The heated cooling oil currents are united in the chamber 41 into a single stream which is withdrawn from the explosion turbine by a rotary pump 16 through a conduit 17. The pump charges the heated oil through a conduit 18 into a heat exchanger 19 operating as a steam boiler. After the oil has given up to the water substantially all of the heat abstracted 'from the explosion turbine, it ows in cooled condition through conduit 20 to the explosion turbinein which it again takes up the excess orwaste heat, after which it is again charged into the heat exchanger 19 to yield up the heat so collected. The oil thus operates in a continuous cycle. Water is charged into the exchanger 19, such water being il'rst conducted by a. conduit 21 to a heat exchanger 22, provided in the compressed air conduit 9. 'I'he fresh water fed by conduit 21 with the ald oi'vthe cold water pump 32 from the supply pipe 33 serves to cool the charging air being conveyed to 1 the explosion turbine, such water being withpump (not shown) through a'conduit 24 and is converted into steam in such exchanger. The steam is collected in the dome 25 and is then conveyed into the heat exchanger 11 to be superheated by the gases exhausting from the explosion turbine. The superheated steam is conveyed by a pipe 27 from the superheater and into the steam turbine 28. After expanding in such turbine the steam is discharged through conduit 29 into the atmosphere. Both the continuous gas turbine 13 and the steam turbine 28 drive the dummy shaft 3l of the locomotive through a common bevel gear transmission 30, the driving wheels of the locomotive being coupled to such shaft in known manner.

The pressure and the temperature conditions in the above described apparatus are as follows:

The fresh water conducted to the .heat exchanger 22 is at a temperature of about 20 C. This temperature is raised to about C. by the charging air which has been compressed, preferably in two stages, to about 6.5 atmospheres. In the heat exchanger 14 the feed Water, which is introduced at about 100 C., is heated to about 165 C. by the gases exhausting from the continuous current gas turbine, and the so preheated water is conducted by the conduit 24 to the steam boiler 19. The heating medium inthe boiler is the cooling oil which leaves the explosion turbine at about 260 C. In said boiler steam is'generated at about 20 atmospheres, the oil being cooled to about 220 C. The steam is heated in the superheater to about 450 C. When the air charged into the explosion chambers is at a pressure of about 6.5 atmospheres, the explosion pressure is 34.6 atmospheres and the counter pressure in the explosion turbine is preferably about 5 atmospher. The continuous current gas turbine 13 is thus operated by gases at about 5 atmospheres pressure. 1

It will be noted that vthe steam is generated and superheated with the heat energy abstracted either directly or indirectly from the explosion gases: directly in the heat exchangers 11 and 14, and indirectly from the walls of the explosion chambers and from the air compressed with the energy of the gases (exchanger 22).

Variations-may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without -departing from the spirit of the invention. For example. there may be employed a's the cooling agent a medium other than oil; for example., water, diphenyloxide or similar non-combustible substance may be used. A

I claim: y 1. A portable power plant for vehicles comprising a plurality of constant volume explosion chambers adapted to be periodically charged with a mixture of fuel and air under pressure forexplosion therein, valves controlling the outlets of said chambers, an explosion turbine rotor, means for conducting gases at high velocity from theV outlet valves of said chambers to said turbine rotor. an air compressor driven by said explosion turbine rotor, a conduit for conducting the com.-

pressed air to said chambers, means for circulating a cooling agent about parts of the plant heated by the gases, a heat exchanger for generating steam with the aid of the heat abstracted by such cooling agent, a steam expansion engine connected to said exchanger to be driven by said steam and mounted independently of said explosion turbine rotor, a gas expansion engine driven by the gases exhausting from the explosion turbine andlikewise mounted independently of the latter, and power transmission mechanism connecting said expansion engines with the driving wheels of the vehicle.

2. A power plant-as set forth in claim. 1 wherein the cooiing agent is circulated through cooling chambers about the explosion chambers.

3. A power plant as set forth in claim 1, including means for preheating feed water with the heat of the compressed air, and means for conducting such feed Water tothe heat exchanger.

4. A power plant as set forth in claim 1, including a heat exchanger for superheating the steam with the gases exhausting from the explosion turbine rotor. y

5. A power plant as set forth in claim 1, includ ing means for preheating feed water with the residual heat of the completely exhausted gases and steam, and a conduit for charging such preheated water into said heat exchanger.

6. A power plant as set forth in claim 1, including means for preheating feed water with the heat ofthe compressed air, and means whereby said feed water is further preheated with the residual heat of the completely exhausted gases and steam.

'7, A power plan as set forth in claim 1, includl ing means for preheating feed water with the heat of the compressed air, means whereby said feed water is further preheated with the residual heat of the completely exhausted gases and steam, a 115 superheater in the path of the gases exhausting from the explosion turbine and connected with the heat exchanger to superheat the generated steam, and a conduit for leading the superheated steam to the steam engine.

8. A portable power plant for vehicles comprising a plurality of constant volume explosion chambers adapted to be periodically charged with a mixture of fuel and air under pressure for ex plosion therein, -valves controlling the outlet of said chambers, an explosion turbine rotor, means for conducting gases at high velocity from-the outlet valves of said chambers to said turbine rotor, an air compressor driven by said explosion turbine rotor, means whereby the 'waste heat abstracted from parts of the plant for cooling the same is converted into steam, a steam expansion engine driven by said steam and moimted independently of said explomon turbine rotor, a gas expansion engine drlvenby the gases exhausting from the explosion turbine rotor and likewise mounted independently of the latter, and power transmission mechanism connecting saidexpansion engines with the driving wheels of the vehicle. 

